A Mother's Panic Moment

Harshita stood at the gate waiting for the school bus to arrive and drop her son home. She glanced at her watch.

‘It is already past three. The bus should have come by now,’ she thought.

At a distance, she saw her neighbor’s son, who was a student of the same school, swinging his school bag around nonchalantly, accompanied by his mother, Vaishali.   

“What happened?” she asked.

“Did you not see the message from the school, Harshita? The bus drivers are on a flash strike. So they have asked us to collect our children,” replied Vaishali.

“Oh, my God!” Harshita exclaimed. She ran back home, clutched her purse and caught an auto to the school.

Her mind was in turmoil.

‘I hope Raj waits for me. What if he sees that all the parents have come except my mother and starts crying? What if he thinks that he should walk it home alone? Or even worse what if he takes a lift from an unknown person?’

She could not bear to think further. Urging the driver to go faster, she kept a watch on the sides of the road to see if by any chance he had started walking home. The ten minutes of the drive seemed to last a lifetime to her. Wild imagination was pushing her into panic mode. As soon as the auto reached the school gate, she pushed a hundred rupee note in his hand, alighted and ran inside. The auto driver’s calls to take the change fell on deaf ears.

“Raj, Anil, Ajay, don’t run around,” the teacher’s loud call sounded like music to Harshita’s ears. She turned and found Raj and four other boys held in check by their class teacher.

Sighing in relief, her mind at peace, at last, she went to collect her son.